Brits cant Let It Go as Frozen overtakes Toy Story 3

08/12/2015

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The adventures of Ana, Elsa and Olaf captured the imaginations of audiences worldwide in Disney’s Frozen. Kantar Worldpanel can now reveal that Brits have been sharing the cinematic magic of the computer-animated musical fantasy with their nearest and dearest more than any other film. Frozen has overtaken Disney*Pixar’s Toy Story 3 to become the most popular film to give as a gift in the past five years.

Figures to 27 September 2015 show that 1.66 million copies of Frozen have been purchased to give as gifts in the 18 months since the film’s release. This beats the previous record held by Toy Story 3, gifted 1.65 million times since its launch in 2010, with Frozen reaching its milestone figure over three times as quickly.

The Toy Story franchise has a long heritage with film fans, which could be why Toy Story 3 took over £73.9 million at the UK box office compared with Frozen's £41.7 million. However, those watching Frozen at the cinema were hooked immediately, with almost half of cinemagoers stating that they intended to buy the film once it was released. This was a much higher rate than those planning to purchase other top box office hits of 2013, which stood at just 30% on average.

Unsurprisingly, the most likely recipients of Frozen were children between the ages of five and eight, accounting for a third of all copies purchased as gifts. The enthusiasm wasn’t limited to children though, with those aged between 25 and 35 accounting for 10% of recipients.

Fiona Keenan, strategic insight director at Kantar Worldpanel, said: “That Frozen has achieved such staggering success in such a short space of time shows just how much the movie has gripped the nation and bodes well for the success of its sequel. Until then, we can expect to see another boost for Frozen in the run up to Christmas: over half of the year’s total video gifts are traditionally purchased in the final quarter. Some 7.3 million people bought films as gifts during the Christmas period last year, so there are likely to be plenty more DVDs under the tree this festive season.”

Liz Bales, chief executive of the British Video Association (BVA) said: “The successful performance of Frozen is great news: it illustrates the ongoing consumer appetite for physically owning content. Gifting is a vital driver of the £2.2 billion video sector, accounting for a third of all sales, and when a film really captures the public’s imagination it continues to boost the market outside the ‘new release’ period.”